Operation Flashpoint: Red River gets a release date and a new gameplay video

Codemasters has announced yesterday that Operation Flashpoint: Red River will be officially releasing on April 26th in NA, and April 21st everywhere else.

A new gameplay video was also released in conjunction with this news. In the video posted below, you will hear of the conflict in Tajikistan from the perspective of the Corporal Ryan Balletto, who is hoping that Tajikistan will be his opportunity to prove himself.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Feb. 18, 2011 – Operation Flashpoint®: Red River™, the all-new chapter in the multi-million selling tactical shooter series, is set to launch in North America on April 26 and across the EMEA region on April 21, Codemasters® announced today.

Codemasters has also revealed a new gameplay video, which introduces the game’s conflict in Tajikistan from the perspective of Corporal Ryan Balletto. The video focuses on his hope that the dangerous and strange world of Tajikistan can be his personal proving ground. The video is now showing at www.facebook.com/flashpointredriver.

With footage showing the epic landscapes players will experience and battle through in Operation Flashpoint: Red River, Marines are shown protecting convoys, attacking dug-in insurgents and setting up ambushes against the backdrop of Tajikistan’s beautiful countryside and spectacular mountain ranges.

As an Auto Rifleman in Fireteam Bravo, Balletto is equipped with a M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW), perfect for suppressing enemy positions. Combined with the other specialist members - Scout, Rifleman and Grenadier – Balletto forms part of the USMC fireteam unit, a lethal fighting force. As a man and as part of the Corps, Balletto embraces this hostile new theatre of war, “come on down to sunny old Tajikistan. I mean, the food sucks, the people look at you funny and at least once a day somebody’s shooting at you. But you can’t beat the entertainment, buddy.”

But plain talking Balletto is intrigued why the insurgents would choose to face off against the much better equipped USMC. “Just yesterday” he says, “I shot five of them to pieces with my damn two-forty-nine. What do they do? Man, they send out five more. Those crazy sons of bitches.” If Tajikistan can be a confusing place though, Balletto is certain of his determination to make his mark, “I can prove myself in a place like this... Both sides are gonna respect me. The people I’m shooting with and the people I’m shooting at.”

Operation Flashpoint: Red River will set a new standard for authentic and intense tactical combat when it arrives on April 26 in North America and April 21 in Europe for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft®, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and Games For Windows® LIVE. Sign up to ‘get some’ USMC style with the latest briefings direct from the Operation Flashpoint studio at www.facebook.com/flashpointredriver and www.twitter.com/flashpointgame.